This stunning animation resizes US counties based on their contribution to GDP

On a global level, the World Bank estimates that although only 54% of the
world’s population lives in urban areas, more than 80% of all
economic production happens in cities.

Urban areas provide a combination of network effects and
economies of scale that are referred to as “economies of
agglomeration”. That’s why countries around the world rely on
cities as engines of growth, and the United States is no
exception.

Today’s map animation comes to us from Max Galka’s Metrocosm
blog, and it helps us to visualize the economic impact of
metropolitan areas in the United States. The animation uses a map
known as a cartogram which distorts the size of each county based
on its relative economic contribution to GDP.